A group of Texas reporters and editors translated the Uvalde shooting report into Spanish
The committee came under fire earlier this week after releasing the report only in English, considering Uvalde residents are overwhelmingly Hispanic or Latino and many speak Spanish.
The Austin-based American statesman announced earlier this week that he was releasing the full report in Spanish “as a public service to the Uvalde families and the wider community.”
“A group of Spanish journalists and editors took special care to ensure that the translation was culturally competent and sensitive to the use of words by Mexican and Central American communities,” García wrote.
Nicole Carroll, editor of USA Today and president of the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett, said 10,000 copies of the Spanish version of the report were delivered to Uvalde on Thursday.
“The people of Uvalde have the right to know all the information about the horrific shooting that took place at Robb Elementary, and those whose first language is Spanish cannot continue to be ignored,” said the rep. Norma Torres of California in a statement. “Especially as misinformation and inconsistencies prevail, all members of the community deserve clear and critical public safety updates in their preferred language. English should not automatically be the default – in especially in predominantly Latino communities like Uvalde – and residents shouldn’t be left in the dark by security officials because of a language barrier.”
The committee examining law enforcement’s response to Uvalde did not comment on the release of the Spanish version of the report on Friday – but Texas State Rep. Joe Moody, one of three members of the committee, said Wednesday that it had “always” been their intention to translate the report into Spanish.
Moody said the committee spoke with local officials who were coordinating with Uvalde families to let them know the Spanish translation would not be ready by last week. He said the committee had been informed that the families wanted the English version of the report released without delay.
Comments are closed.